Media asset usage data reporting that indicates corresponding content creator

ABSTRACT

The disclosure is related to the idea of tracking user navigation, consumption, and/or behavior and applying analytics to help shape future offerings (customized offerings, up-sells, recommendations, etc.) to a user and to provide reporting data to service providers and studios. Methods and systems of providing viewing recommendations for a user are set forth. This involves collecting usage data related to a session of interaction by the user, processing the user data for the session, and providing feedback regarding the session. The sessions involve multiple stages tracking a user&#39;s interactions. These include stages such as an inquiry stage, a results stage, a details stage, a selection stage, and a confirmation stage. Usage data is then mined to indicate the content creator of a media asset regardless of the media asset type.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 61/429,714 filed Jan. 4, 2011, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to reporting usage data, andmore particularly the gathering of user data feedback to improvereporting usage data regardless of media type for a content creator.

BACKGROUND

Traditional usage tracking on media devices tends to focus on theresulting content selection from a limited number of sources. Thesesystems do not track the process of how the selected content was arrivedat.

For example, the Nielsen rating system just tracks what broadcasttelevision shows are being watched. One limitations of this type ofsystem is that it doesn't track or otherwise account for other types ofmedia (DVR recordings, VOD selections, internet content, etc) that maybe selected and/or viewed in place of broadcast television. Anotherlimitations is that is does not provide any insight as to how or whyparticular content is selected and/or viewed.

Additionally, current rating systems are not capable of tracking all ofthe different types of content that are available from a contentcreator. A content creator can be a media entity that creates differenttypes of media. For example, the Disney Corporation and Vivendi createmovies, video games, television shows, radio shows, music albums, andthe like, which represent different types of media. Currently though,there is no way of tracking how much content a user consumes from Disneyversus a content creator such as Vivendi SA.

SUMMARY

The disclosure is directed towards tracking user navigation,consumption, and/or behavior and applying analytics to help shape futureofferings (customized offerings, upselling, recommendations, etc.) to auser and to provide reporting data that groups media assets according toa content creator regardless of the type of media that is consumed.

In accordance with one embodiment, a method of providing viewingrecommendations for a user is provided. The method comprises collectingusage data related to a session of interaction by the user, processingthe user data for the session, and providing feedback regarding thesession. In certain embodiments the session comprises an inquiry stage,a results stage, a details stage, a selection stage, and a confirmationstage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a system diagram outlining the delivery of video and audiocontent to the home in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is system diagram showing further detail of a representative settop box receiver.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting a touch panel control device in accordancewith one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram depicting an exemplary process in accordancewith one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a system diagram depicting an aggregator system in accordancewith one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting an exemplary process in accordancewith one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a system diagram outlining the inter-workings of anaggregation module in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram depicting an exemplary process in accordancewith one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram depicting a usage data report in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram depicting a usage data report in accordance withone embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram depicting a usage data report in accordance withone embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram depicting a usage data report in accordance withone embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram depicting an exemplary process in accordancewith one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an embodiment of a system 100for delivering content to a home or end user is shown. The contentoriginates from a content source 102, such as a movie studio orproduction house. The content may be supplied in at least one of twoforms. One form may be a broadcast form of content. The broadcastcontent is provided to the broadcast affiliate manager 104, which istypically a national broadcast service, such as the AmericanBroadcasting Company (ABC), National Broadcasting Company (NBC),Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), etc. The broadcast affiliate managermay collect and store the content, and may schedule delivery of thecontent over a deliver network, shown as delivery network 1 (106).Delivery network 1 (106) may include satellite link transmission from anational center to one or more regional or local centers. Deliverynetwork 1 (106) may also include local content delivery using localdelivery systems such as over the air broadcast, satellite broadcast, orcable broadcast. The locally delivered content is provided to areceiving device 108 in a user's home, where the content willsubsequently be searched by the user. It is to be appreciated that thereceiving device 108 can take many forms and may be embodied as a settop box, digital video recorder (DVR), a gateway, a modem, etc. Further,the receiving device 108 may act as entry point, or gateway, for a homenetwork system that includes additional devices configured as eitherclient or peer devices in the home network.

A second form of content is referred to as special content. Specialcontent may include content delivered as premium viewing, pay-per-view,or other content otherwise not provided to the broadcast affiliatemanager, e.g., movies, video games or other video elements. In manycases, the special content may be content requested by the user. Thespecial content may be delivered to a content manager 110. The contentmanager 110 may be a service provider, such as an Internet website,affiliated, for instance, with a content provider, broadcast service, ordelivery network service. The content manager 110 may also incorporateInternet content into the delivery system. The content manager 110 maydeliver the content to the user's receiving device 108 over a separatedelivery network, delivery network 2 (112). Delivery network 2 (112) mayinclude high-speed broadband Internet type communications systems. It isimportant to note that the content from the broadcast affiliate manager104 may also be delivered using all or parts of delivery network 2 (112)and content from the content manager 110 may be delivered using all orparts of delivery network 1 (106). In addition, the user may also obtaincontent directly from the Internet via delivery network 2 (112) withoutnecessarily having the content managed by the content manager 110.

Several adaptations for utilizing the separately delivered content maybe possible. In one possible approach, the special content is providedas an augmentation to the broadcast content, providing alternativedisplays, purchase and merchandising options, enhancement material, etc.In another embodiment, the special content may completely replace someprogramming content provided as broadcast content. Finally, the specialcontent may be completely separate from the broadcast content, and maysimply be a media alternative that the user may choose to utilize. Forinstance, the special content may be a library of movies that are notyet available as broadcast content.

The receiving device 108 may receive different types of content from oneor both of delivery network 1 and delivery network 2. The receivingdevice 108 processes the content, and provides a separation of thecontent based on user preferences and commands. The receiving device 108may also include a storage device, such as a hard drive or optical diskdrive, for recording and playing back audio and video content. Furtherdetails of the operation of the receiving device 108 and featuresassociated with playing back stored content will be described below inrelation to FIG. 2. The processed content is provided to a displaydevice 114. The display device 114 may be a conventional 2-D typedisplay or may alternatively be an advanced 3-D display.

The receiving device 108 may also be interfaced to a second screen suchas a touch screen control device 116. The touch screen control device116 may be adapted to provide user control for the receiving device 108and/or the display device 114. The touch screen device 116 may also becapable of displaying video content. The video content may be graphicsentries, such as user interface entries, or may be a portion of thevideo content that is delivered to the display device 114. The touchscreen control device 116 may interface to receiving device 108 usingany well known signal transmission system, such as infra-red (IR) orradio frequency (RF) communications and may include standard protocolssuch as infra-red data association (IRDA) standard, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth andthe like, or any other proprietary protocols. Operations of touch screencontrol device 116 will be described in further detail below. Thereceiving device 108 and touch screen control device 116 may make up afront end.

In the example of FIG. 1, the system 100 also includes a back endincluding a server 118 and a usage database 120. The back end server 118includes a personalization engine that analyzes the usage habits of auser and makes recommendations based on those usage habits. The usagedatabase 120 is where the usage habits for a user are stored. In somecases, the usage database 120 may be part of the back end server 118 a.In the present example, the back end server 118 (as well as the usagedatabase 120) is connected to the system the system 100 and accessedthrough the delivery network 2 (112).

Turning now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of an embodiment of a receivingdevice 200 is shown. Receiving device 200 may operate similar to thereceiving device described in FIG. 1 and may be included as part of agateway device, modem, set-top box, or other similar communicationsdevice. The device 200 shown may also be incorporated into other systemsincluding an audio device or a display device. In either case, severalcomponents necessary for complete operation of the system are not shownin the interest of conciseness, as they are well known to those skilledin the art.

In the device 200 shown in FIG. 2, the content is received by an inputsignal receiver 202. The input signal receiver 202 may be one of severalknown receiver circuits used for receiving, demodulation, and decodingsignals provided over one of the several possible networks includingover the air, cable, satellite, Ethernet, fiber and phone line networks.The desired input signal may be selected and retrieved by the inputsignal receiver 202 based on user input provided through a controlinterface or touch panel interface 222. Touch panel interface 222 mayinclude an interface for a touch screen device. Touch panel interface222 may also be adapted to interface to a cellular phone, a tablet, amouse, a high end remote or the like.

The decoded output signal is provided to an input stream processor 204.The input stream processor 204 performs the final signal selection andprocessing, and includes separation of video content from audio contentfor the content stream. The audio content is provided to an audioprocessor 206 for conversion from the received format, such ascompressed digital signal, to an analog waveform signal. The analogwaveform signal is provided to an audio interface 208 and further to thedisplay device or audio amplifier. Alternatively, the audio interface208 may provide a digital signal to an audio output device or displaydevice using a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable oralternate audio interface such as via a Sony/Philips DigitalInterconnect Format (SPDIF). The audio interface may also includeamplifiers for driving one more sets of speakers. The audio processor206 also performs any necessary conversion for the storage of the audiosignals.

The video output from the input stream processor 204 is provided to avideo processor 210. The video signal may be one of several formats. Thevideo processor 210 provides, as necessary a conversion of the videocontent, based on the input signal format. The video processor 210 alsoperforms any necessary conversion for the storage of the video signals.

A storage device 212 stores audio and video content received at theinput. The storage device 212 allows later retrieval and playback of thecontent under the control of a controller 214 and also based oncommands, e.g., navigation instructions such as fast-forward (FF) andrewind (Rew), received from a user interface 216 and/or touch panelinterface 222. The storage device 212 may be a hard disk drive, one ormore large capacity integrated electronic memories, such as static RAM(SRAM), or dynamic RAM (DRAM), or may be an interchangeable optical diskstorage system such as a compact disk (CD) drive or digital video disk(DVD) drive.

The converted video signal, from the video processor 210, eitheroriginating from the input or from the storage device 212, is providedto the display interface 218. The display interface 218 further providesthe display signal to a display device of the type described above. Thedisplay interface 218 may be an analog signal interface such asred-green-blue (RGB) or may be a digital interface such as HDMI. It isto be appreciated that the display interface 218 will generate thevarious screens for presenting the search results in a three dimensionalgird as will be described in more detail below.

The controller 214 is interconnected via a bus to several of thecomponents of the device 200, including the input stream processor 202,audio processor 206, video processor 210, storage device 212, and a userinterface 216. The controller 214 manages the conversion process forconverting the input stream signal into a signal for storage on thestorage device or for display. The controller 214 also manages theretrieval and playback of stored content. Furthermore, as will bedescribed below, the controller 214 performs searching of content andthe creation and adjusting of the gird display representing the content,either stored or to be delivered via the delivery networks, describedabove.

The controller 214 is further coupled to control memory 220 (e.g.,volatile or non-volatile memory, including RAM, SRAM, DRAM, ROM,programmable ROM (PROM), flash memory, electronically programmable ROM(EPROM), electronically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), etc.) forstoring information and instruction code for controller 214. Controlmemory 220 may store instructions for controller 214. Control memory mayalso store a database of elements, such as graphic elements containingcontent. The database may be stored as a pattern of graphic elements.Alternatively, the memory may store the graphic elements in identifiedor grouped memory locations and use an access or location table toidentify the memory locations for the various portions of informationrelated to the graphic elements. Additional details related to thestorage of the graphic elements will be described below. Further, theimplementation of the control memory 220 may include several possibleembodiments, such as a single memory device or, alternatively, more thanone memory circuit communicatively connected or coupled together to forma shared or common memory. Still further, the memory may be includedwith other circuitry, such as portions of bus communications circuitry,in a larger circuit.

The user interface process of the present disclosure employs an inputdevice that can be used to express functions, such as fast forward,rewind, etc. To allow for this, a touch panel device 300 may beinterfaced via the user interface 216 and/or touch panel interface 222of the receiving device 200, as shown in FIG. 3. The touch panel device300 allows operation of the receiving device or set top box based onhand movements, or gestures, and actions translated through the panelinto commands for the set top box or other control device. In oneembodiment, the touch panel 300 may simply serve as a navigational toolto navigate the gird display. In other embodiments, the touch panel 300will additionally serve as the display device allowing the user to moredirectly interact with the navigation through the grid display ofcontent. The touch panel device may be included as part of a remotecontrol device containing more conventional control functions such asactivator or actuator buttons. The touch panel 300 can also include atleast one camera element.

FIG. 4 depicts a flow diagram 400 of the process involved in providinguser data feedback as described in this disclosure. The process involvescollecting or obtaining usage data (step 410), processing the usage data(step 420), and providing feedback (step 430). Each of these steps willbe discussed in more detail below.

Pursuant to the first step of FIG. 4, data regarding the usage habits ofa user is collected. The usage information can include informationcollected at the front end from the receiving device 108 and the touchscreen control device 116. The type of information collected my includechannels watched on the display device 114, the time the channels wherewatched, how long the channel was watched, the type of program on thechannel, information about the program watched (e.g. genre, director,actor, etc.). what was viewed on the touch screen control device 116(i.e. program guide, additional program information, websites,applications, etc.), what time content was viewed on the touch screencontrol device 116, how long the content was viewed, and informationabout the content watched (type of content, genre, etc.).

There are other types of data and behaviors that can be tracked as well.For example, a subscriber's migratory behavior can be tracked from mediasource to media source and from media asset to media asset. Consider anexample, where a user is watching a television program delivered from anetwork service provider such as Comcast. The user then changes theirmedia selection to an over the top (OTT) media service provider (such asNetflix). The described system can tracks the two media selections(television show, movie) the source of such media selections (Comcast,Netflix, and the like), and the time spent using or watching each mediaselection. The described system can also track the content author of amedia asset through both implicit and explicit techniques as disclosedin various exemplary embodiments.

This current example provides meaningful information since many networkservice providers, over the top services, personal media servers,broadcast sources, cable sources, satellite sources, IPTV sources,websites, on-line sources that supply media (such as Amazon, Emusic,ITunes, and the like), value keeping track of:

-   -   a. What sources exist for a particular media selection.    -   b. Tracking what source the media selection comes from.    -   c. Tracking whether a media source that is accessed, was        suggested by the system.    -   d. Tracking whether a user purchases a media selection from a        specific source (clickthrough).    -   e. Tracking if a user went to a particular source to look at a        media selection that was selected, but was not purchased.    -   f. Tracking the amount of time a user accessing or watching a        media selection from a particular source.    -   g. Tracking whether a user is responsive to a particular        advertisement and the source of such an advertisement (local        operator, network operator, over the top service, broadcaster,        etc.).    -   h. Tracking what version of a particular media asset was        selected, and the source.    -   i. Low v. High Resolution such as Standard Definition versus        High Definition.    -   j. Bit-rate of the Media Asset.    -   k. Regular Version v. Special Features.    -   l. How long were the “Special Features” accessed.    -   m. Whether advertisements embedded or pushed into the media        asset are selected.    -   n. Keeping track of what application was used for selecting a        media asset, and for how long it took to get to a particular        media asset.    -   o. Search Engine.    -   p. Electronic Program Guide.    -   q. Advertisement.    -   r. Social Networking Recommendation from a Friend.    -   s. Tracking a Content Creator of a Media Asset.

It is expected that other attributes can be tracked as well anddelivered in a report, where such attributes can be group together. Thisinformation may be collected and aggregated by an Aggregator system suchas seen in FIG. 5.

The Aggregation EAR file 500 contains both SpectrumCommon JAR module 510and Aggregation WAR module 520. The SpectrumCommon module JAR 510 is ashared module to obtain errors codes, error messages and loggingservices. Aggregation module 520 is an internal API to aggregate thecollected customer usage data on device and later the gathered logs areused for reporting. Aggregated user data can then be sent to and savedin the database 120 and used for report generation.

Examples of properties recorded for user activity logging include:Timestamp, Household ID, User ID, Device ID, Session ID, Application ID,Action Type, as well as other parameters associated with the ActionType. This information is provided in log messages having the format:

<Timestamp>|<HouseholdId>|<UserId>|<DeviceId>|<SessionId>|<ApplicationId>|<ActionType>|<MsgParams>where:

<Timestamp> format is “yyyy-mm-dd hh:mi:ss.millis”

<ActionType> is one of the values in the RP_ACTION_TYPE table (seeDatabase Schema Design section for values)

<MsgParams> are message specific key value pairs delimited by a “;”character. Key value pairs are delimited by a “:” character.

An example of such a log message for an acquire action would look asfollows: ACQUIRE Log Message 2010-10-1216:52:12.014|Household123|be01|dev456|Sess123|App001|ACQUIRE|ITEM_ID:987;ITEM_TYPE:VOD;OFFER_ID:Offer123;PROVIDER:NETFLIX;ACQUIRE_SOURCE:SEARCH;ACQUIRE_TYPE:BUY;PRICE:7.99;CURRENCY:USD;STATUS:SUCCESS;

The aggregation module provides log messages in response to a requestsuch as:

CollectUserData

Request: List of log messages

Response: Boolean true value (even if web service processing failure)

The web service request is parsed to extract individual log messages.Each individual log message is parsed to extract user information,device information, activity type, and key value pairs of activity typespecific data. Each key value pair of data is stored in a databasetable. The current implementation processes and parses all the logrecord data in each web service request before returning the web serviceresponse.

Database Schema Design

The reporting database schema design will be based on a modifiedEntity-Attribute-Value (EAV) model also known as “sparse matrix”. Thismodel will store each log message attribute value pair as a separate rowin another table. This approach involves minor changes to the existingreporting database schema such as removing OFFER_ID and CONTENT_IDcolumns from the RP_LOG table.

RP_LOG TABLE LOG_ID NUMBER LOG_DATE TIMESTAMP HOUSEHOLD_ID VARCHAR2 (20CHAR) USER_ID VARCHAR2 (20 CHAR) DEVICE_ID VARCHAR2 (20 CHAR) SERVICE_IDVARCHAR2 (20 CHAR) SESSION_ID NUMBER ACTION_TYPE_ID NUMBER (FK toRP_ACTION_TYPE table)The OFFER_ID and CONTENT_ID columns have been removed since they areonly used for ACQUIRE messages. These attributes will be added to theRP_INFORMATION table.

RP_LOG_INFORMATION TABLE LOG_ID NUMBER (FK to RP_LOG table)INFORMATION_ID NUMBER (FK to RP_INFORMATION table) LOG_INFORMATION_VALUEVARCHAR2 (512 CHAR)

RP_INFORMATION TABLE INFORMATION_ID NUMBER INFORMATION_NAME VARCHAR2 (20CHAR) INFORMATION_DEFINITION VARCHAR2 (200 CHAR)

This table should contain records for all the key parameters (ID andnames)

INFORMA- INFORMA- TION_ID INFORMATION_NAME TION_DEFINITION 0 UNKNOWNUnknown 1 APPLICATION_ID Application ID 2 ITEM_ID Item ID 3 ITEM_TYPEItem type 4 OFFER_ID Offer ID 5 ACQUIRE_SOURCE Acquire source(SEARCH/RECOMMEND) 6 ACQUIRE_TYPE Acquire type (BUY/RENT) 7 PRICEAcquire price 8 CURRENCY_TYPE Currency type 9 STATUS Status (SUCCESS/FAIL/CANCEL) 10 SEARCH_CRITERIA Search criteria 11 FRIEND_ID Friend ID12 FRIEND_ACTION Friend action (ADD/ DELETE/ACCEPT_INVITE/SEND_INVITE/SEARCH) 13 CONTENT_POSITION Content position (HH:MI:SSformat) 14 DEVICE_TYPE Device type (TABLET/TV) 15 CHANNEL_ID Channel ID16 UNKNOWN_INFO Unknown info 17 DVR_ACTION DVR action(DELETE/SAVE_UNTIL) 18 FILE_DOWNLOAD 3rd party application download info19 PROVIDER_ID Provider ID (YOUTUBE, NETFLIX, NSP) 20 CREATOR_ID Thecontent creator of a particular media asset which can be a specificmovie studio, broadcaster, game publisher, and the like.

RP_ACTION_TYPE TABLE ACTION_TYPE_ID NUMBER ACTION_TYPE VARCHAR2 (20CHAR)

This table should contain records for all the activity names such asACQUIRE, SEARCH, VIEWCHANNEL, PLAY, FASTFORWARD, REVERSE, PAUSE, etc.Additional action names are TBD.

ACTION_TYPE_ID ACTION_TYPE 0 UNKNOWN 1 APPLICATION_START 2APPLICATION_END 3 SCREENSAVER_START 4 SCREENSAVER_END 5 ACQUIRE 6 SEARCH7 SHARE 8 MANAGE_FRIEND 9 MANAGE_LIBRARY 10 MIRROR 11 PLAY 12 PAUSE 13FASTFORWARD 14 REVERSE 15 STOP 16 VIEW_TV_START 17 VIEW_TV_END 18MANAGE_DVR_RECORDING 19 USER_ACTION 20 FILE_DOWNLOAD

RP_APPLICATION TABLE APP_ID NUMBER APP_DESCRIPTION VARCHAR2 (20 CHAR)

FIG. 6 depicts the collection of user activity data by aggregationsystem using the CollecUserData operation 600. Here the request 610 ismade by an External Web Service client 620, which can be located at backend server 118. The request is received by the aggregation skeleton 620of the aggregation module which is located on receiving device 108 orthe second screen 116. The aggregation skeleton 630 responds with aBoolean Value 640. An example of inter-workings of the aggregationmodule can be seen in FIG. 7.

FIG. 7 depicts a system 700 showing the intercommunication by theSpectrumCommon Jar 510 and the Aggregation WAR 520. The SpectrumCommonmodule 510 provides logging services, error codes, and error messages toAggregation module 520. The aggregation skeleton 620 using theaggregation skeleton interface 710 receives a CollectUSerData request610 and parses through the LocalLogList 720 and LocalLog 730 forLogListType 740 and LogType 750. A response 640 to the CollectUserDatarequest is then returned.

The following user activities in the Flash/Flex applications can belogged:

Application User Activity Parameters Application start Timestamp Notes:Use same message HouseholdId for Spectrum shell start, UserId Spectrumapp start, and DeviceId 3^(rd) party application SessionId startApplicationId ItemId ItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM, APP, CLIP, other typesTBD) Application end Timestamp Notes: Use same message HouseholdId forSpectrum shell start, UserId Spectrum app start, and DeviceId 3^(rd)party application SessionId start ApplicationId Screen saver startTimestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionId ApplicationId Screensaver end Timestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionId ApplicationIdAcquire Timestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionId ApplicationIdItemId ItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM, APP, CLIP, other types TBD) OfferIdProviderId (YOUTUBE, NETFLIX, NSP, other types are TBD) AcquireSource(SEARCH, RECOMMEND) AcquireType (BUY, RENT) Price Currency Status(SUCCESS, FAIL, CANCEL) Search Timestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceIdSessionId ApplicationId Search term Share Timestamp Notes: This is aseparate HouseholdId activity message instead UserId of using UserAction DeviceId message since friendId SessionId parameter is needed.ApplicationId ItemId ItemType FriendId UserAction Timestamp Notes: Thismessage is HouseholdId used for common user UserId activities (rate andDeviceId social messaging) that SessionId can be accessed fromApplicationId multiple places in the ItemId application and whichItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM, APP, don't require additional CLIP, othertypes TBD) message parameters. ActionType (RATE, SOCIAL_MESSAGE, etc)ManageLibrary Timestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionIdApplicationId ItemId ItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM, APP, CLIP, other typesTBD) ActionType (ADD_COLL, DELETE_COLL, ADD_COLL_ITEM, DELETE_COLL_ITEM)ManageFriend Timestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionIdApplicationId Action (ADD, DELETE, ACCEPT_INVITE, SEND_INVITE, SEARCH,other types TBD) Mirror (throw to TV) Timestamp HouseholdId UserIdDeviceId SessionId ApplicationId ItemId ItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM, APP,CLIP, other types TBD) Content position FileDownload Timestamp (3^(rd)party apps) HouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionId ApplicationId ItemIdItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM, APP, CLIP, other types TBD)DVR activity may also be logged. This includes:Key presses on the remote controlDVR recording management

DVR User Activity Parameters Play Timestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceIdSessionId ApplicationId DeviceType (TABLET, TV) ItemId ItemType (VOD,TV_PROGRAM, APP, CLIP, other types TBD) ProviderId (YOUTUBE, NETFLIX,NSP, other types are TBD) Content position Pause Timestamp HouseholdIdUserId DeviceId SessionId ApplicationId DeviceType (TABLET, TV) ItemIdItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM, APP, CLIP, other types TBD) Content positionFast forward Timestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionIdApplicationId DeviceType (TABLET, TV) ItemId ItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM,APP, CLIP, other types TBD) Content position Reverse TimestampHouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionId ApplicationId DeviceType (TABLET,TV) ItemId ItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM, APP, CLIP, other types TBD)Content position Stop Timestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionIdApplicationId DeviceType (TABLET, TV) ItemId ItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM,APP, CLIP, other types TBD) Content position ViewTVStart TimestampHouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionId ApplicationId ChannelId ViewTVEndTimestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionId ApplicationId ChannelIdManageDVRRecording Timestamp HouseholdId UserId DeviceId SessionIdApplicationId ItemId ItemType (VOD, TV_PROGRAM, APP, CLIP, other typesTBD) Action (DELETE, SAVE_UNTIL, other types TBD)An example of a transaction using a CollectUserData JSON Request can beseen below:

{  “userLog”:{   “authToken”:“?”,   “logs”:[    {    “log”:“2010-10-1216:52:12.014|Household123|be01|     dev456|Sess123|App001|ACQUIRE|ITEM_ID:987;ITEM_TYPE:VOD;-OFFER_ID:Offer123;PROVIDER:NETFLIX;-ACQUIRE_SOURCE:SEARCH;ACQUIRE_TYPE:BUY;PRICE:7.99;-CURRENCY:USD;STATUS:SUCCESS;”    },    {    “log”:“2010-10-1216:52:12.014|Household123|be01|     dev456|Sess123|App001|ACQUIRE|ITEM_ID:987;ITEM_TYPE:VOD;-OFFER_ID:Offer123;PROVIDER:NSP;-ACQUIRE_SOURCE:SEARCH;ACQUIRE_TYPE:RENT;-PRICE:2.99;CURRENCY:USD;STATUS:SUCCESS;”    }   ]  } }

An example of a CollectUserData JSON Response is:

{  “status”:“true” }

One concept used in the collection of user data is that of a “session.”A “session” is a collection of actions by a user that make a particularinteraction between the user and the device. For example session mayinclude all the action a user took to watch a particular piece of media.FIG. 8 provides a flow chart 800 of one example of the process a sessioncan involve.

In FIG. 8, there are five stages or steps to a session 800. These stagesare inquiry in step 810, results in step 820, details in step 830,selection in step 840, and confirmation in step 850. Each of thesestages will be discussed in more detail below.

The inquiry stage (step 810) initiates the session. The inquiry stagecan be thought of as analogous to the beginning of a users interactionwith the device in which the user seek to answer the question “what iscan I watch.” For example, an inquiry may be a search on a particulartopic, a request for listing of VOD offerings, a request for an EPG, ora request for listing of previously recorded programs. Any such activitystarts the session and is logged as part of the session.

In response to the inquiry step (step 810), results are provided for theuser to review (step 820). The results could be the results of thesearch performed, the listing of available VOD offerings, the EPG, orthe listing of previously recorded programs. The results can alsoinclude recommendations based on the user or device. In otherembodiments the results provided can be filtered based on the user ordevice. The results provided to user are logged as part of the session.Based on the provided results the user can make a new inquiry (step 810)beginning a new session or get additional details (step 830) about theprovided results.

The details stage (step 830) involves the user being provided with andreviewing additional information about the provided results (step 820).The additional information can be plot summaries, cast and crewlistings, ratings, etc. The additional information may also includetrailers, video clips, and special promotional listings and offers.Again the additional information viewed by the user is logged as part ofthe session. After reviewing the additional information for a result theuser may then make a new inquiry (step 810), review other results (step820) or make a selection (step 840).

The selection stage (step 840) involves the choice of content by theuser to watch. This may be a currently playing program, a VOD offering,downloadable content, a program previously recorded, or the like. Whencontent is selected the user is then informed of what is necessary toview the content such as tuning the particular channel, starting thestream, starting the download, playing back from the recoding, as wellas any pricing or purchasing information. This selection is logged aspart of the session. The user again has the option of performing a newinquiry (step 810), returning to the results (step 820) or confirmingthe selection of the content (step 850).

Confirmation (step 850) involves the actually acquisition of the contentincluding purchasing, tuning to the channel, downloading, etc. This isalso where the user agrees to the terms in order to view the selectedcontent. Any agreement to terms and acquisition is logged as part of thesession and also concludes the session.

Referring again to FIG. 4, once usage data is collected (step 410), theusage data is provided to the back end where it can be processed (step420) to build a user profile. The use of sessions allows for thetracking of not just content selection but the path pursued to arrive atthe content selection. Thus it can be determined what inquiries,results, details, and acquisition requirements result in selection andconsumption of content as well as what inquires results, details andacquisitions requirement can prevent the selection and consumption ofcontent. By knowing what the user selects for viewing as well as how theuser arrived at the selection, feedback can be provided (step 430) toevaluate the effectiveness of searches, recommendations, additionalinformation, and pricing in the section of content by the user. Thefeedback may also be used to improve each stage of an acquisitionsession.

For example, results and recommendations, additional information, andacquisition requirements such as cost or rental terms can be adjusted infuture session to improve “buy” selections by the user. Likewise thisinformation can be used to improve targeted advertising, includingspecial offers. Other possible uses for the techniques discussed hereininclude.

-   -   1. Deciding where a user should be shown selections. For        example, it can be more likely that a user will end up buying        VOD programming based on a suggestion made by the        personalization engine, instead of the media asset being        advertised at the bottom of an EPG banner advertisement.    -   2. Changing the order in which results in a search are made        based on the tracking information. For example, a search result        from IMDB may be acted on more frequently by a user than a        search result from Amazon. Also, the order of search results can        be monitored where a user may have a particular preference for        an order of credits such as having an actor field placed before        a director field, and the like.    -   3. Understanding the type of content a user seems to gravitate        towards (for example, action movies with cars, airplanes or        travel programming with beaches, etc. . . . ) to provide a level        of relevancy in content offerings and also up-sell services that        range from premium programming (pay channels) to physical        merchandize (a Ferrari F-40 model vehicle).    -   4. Trending the purchase history of content for users and        comparatively view other users in a peer group to, for example,        track both the user and the peer group's reactions to marketing        strategies. For example, a peer group in Beverly Hills may react        favorably to a platinum tier programming package at $29.99        compared to a group elsewhere that maybe more interested in the        same or slightly variant package at $12.99. Pricing        effectiveness of marketing strategies can be measured on an        individual basis as well. For example:        -   A. User searches for Iron Man. Not currently available but            user is proved with offer to purchase the latest Spiderman            movie for $30, to rent the Hulk (circa 2008) for $6, or to            rent the Hulk (circa 2003) for $4.00. User selects to rent            Hulk (circa 2008). Purchase data is stored that may (along            with other tracked data) indicate the user's tendency to            rent rather than buy and/or desire to view movies associated            with the upcoming Avengers movie (circa 2012).        -   B. Tracking when a user is more likely to rent or purchase.            For example, a user's consumption habits may reveal that the            user is 80% more likely to rent a movie but 75% more likely            to purchase a TV episode. This information can be used to            shape future offers to the user.        -   C. Tracking and analyzing price resistance. Assisting            content provider in understanding user's decision making            (i.e., was it the price of the movie or was it the time of            day). Offer the same movie at different prices and different            times of day to assist content provider in setting price for            movie and understanding what caused purchase.    -   5. Provides a portal that bridges broadcast, VOD, over the top        and user generated programming. As a result, the industry can be        provided with first programming measurement capabilities and        effectiveness across the multiple sources of available content.        That is, the research and the preference engine will go between        applications and services which typically are not monitored        (i.e., user spends 20% of their time watching TNT, 30% on        Yahoo.com, 50% of their time watching Hulu.com).    -   6. May push user to a different source of the same content based        on the user subscription. For example, User A may have a premium        subscription ($150 a month) and User B may just have a basic        subscription ($45 a month). If desired content (e.g., recent        movie) is available both on a premium movie channel and on VOD,        the system of the present disclosure would direct User A to the        premium movie channel and User B to VOD. This would at least        reduce the risk of User A dropping the premium subscription        because the user is repeatedly directed to VOD offerings.    -   8. Methodology behind periodically reminding the user of what        movies and television shows are stored in the digital locker.        The system can remind the user that they already have such        content archived on their personal locker. For example:        -   A. Consider possibility of having the reminder be that the            content is available in a second person's digital locker (my            wife has her own digital locker and I want to access the            content in the locker).        -   B. Making available through other people's lockers, content            that can be freely distributed (home movies, YouTube            content, etc.)    -   9. Tracking when a user repeatedly rents and views a movie and        offering the user the option to buy the same movie or a related        movie. For example:        -   A. Consider a model where the more the user has rented a            movie, the less costly the movie rental becomes until the            user has paid for it enough times that it gets uploaded to            their digital locker for free.        -   B. Consider also the idea that if there is a series of            movies to be rented, the first movie rented (Godfather I) is            5.00, (Godfather II) is 3.00, (Godfather III) is 1.00. This            option can also apply for buying programs in a series (first            episode 3.00, 2^(nd) episode 2.00, 3^(rd) 1.00).    -   10. Track users' use of recommendations. For example, user A may        be 35% more likely to follow a friend's recommendation as        opposed to a recommendation from a recommendation engine and        User B may be 40% more likely to follow a recommendation from a        recommendation engine as opposed to a friend's recommendation.        The system can track this behavior and use it to prioritize        recommendations made to different users.    -   11. Track explicit ratings (user given rating “4 stars”) and        implicit ratings (number of views, number of times given scenes        are viewed, number of times user recommends content to friends,        etc.) to determine what is recommended to a user. For example, a        user gives Rocky a 5 star rating but only views Rocky once and        never recommends the movie to a friend. The same user gives        Ghostbusters a 2 star rating but views the movie in its entirety        3 times, a particular scene in the movie 9 times, and recommends        the movie to 10 friends. Based on this history, Ghostbusters 2        would be recommended to the user before recommending Rocky 2.

This concept considers the idea that people do not rate movies fairly,where a 5 star movie may not really be 5 stars for everything.Therefore, one has to consider the actual interaction a user has with amedia asset aside for the explicit rating that is given to the asset. Itshould be noted that different algorithms can be developed to determineratings by using both explicit ratings (what the user rated a mediaasset) and implicit ratings (how the user interacts with the mediaasset).

-   -   12. Tracking when and where a user views a movie and using this        context information to adjust what is offered to the user in        different rooms and at different times (e.g., offering different        recommendation for viewing in the living room at 1 pm as opposed        to the bed room at 9 pm). For example, a user can specify what        type of device is being used and where the device is located.

When collecting usage data, an exemplary embodiment of the disclosurefocuses on accumulating data concerning the content author of aparticular media asset. That is, instead of considering how a userinteracted with a specific media asset, there is value for determiningat a higher level how a user interfaces with different types of contentfrom a content author. That is, a content author may create differenttypes of content such as movies, computer games, websites, and the like.The content author would therefore want to be able to track a user'sconsumption of media assets regardless of the form of such assets.

One approach for identifying the creator of media content can bedetermined from the use of an explicit metadata field which containssuch information. In an exemplary embodiment, the field CREATOR_ID (orsimilar type of field) lists content creator information identifying astudio or production company that made a specific media asset. Implicittechniques can also be used to identify a content creator where metadataassociated with a media asset can be mined in order to determine thecontent creator. For example, if the field CREATOR_ID is blank but thereis ID information such ITEM ID, or other type of metadata field (titleor copyright information) that can be referenced in a table, database,or other memory whereby the id information can return information for acontent creator.

More approaches for identifying a content creator for a media asset whensuch information is not explicitly defined in a media asset includeidentifying audio and/or visual watermarks that can reside in a mediaasset which indicate the attributes of a media asset, determining amedia asset's title from electronic program guide informationcorresponding to the media asset, performing text extraction techniqueson teletext, subtitles, or closed captioning that accompanies a mediaasset to identify such an asset, and these like. Once a media asset isidentified the identifying information can be looked up in a table,database, storage medium, search engine, and the like where the resultsof such a look up returns the identity of the media asset's creator.

Another approach that can be applied for media assets which are accesseddirectly through websites would analyze the Uniform Resource Indicator(URI) associated with a media asset and determine if the URI has anyidentifying information that can be used to determine a content author.For example, a URI that has www.disney.com/xxxx/xxxx could reference thedomain name in the root of the URI “Disney” which indicates the mediaasset is associated with Disney as a content creator. This type ofconsideration can also be performed when a URI consists of an IP addressthat can be resolved into a domain name using a Domain Name Server (DNS)whereby a content author can be extracted from the resolved domain name.A further approach links a series of domain names to a content creator,for example, the domain names of www.e.com, www.comcast.com, www.nbc.comare all linked to the content creator Comcast, where a domain name isreferenced and content creator information can be returned.

Determining a content creator for a corresponding media asset can beperformed when analyzing a user's activity on a social network. Whenvarious messages are communicated from a user to a social media websiteor service such as FACEBOOK or GOOGLE+, the user may have commentsconcerning a particular media asset. Usage data can be collected fromsuch messages by performing a keyword search for titles that correspondto media assets. Such titles can then be matched against a table,database, storage device, and the like to determine a content creatorthat corresponds to a media asset. Alternatively, some social medianetwork architectures provide a system for a user to “post” informationabout a media asset directly to the social media network which can useinformation such as ITEM ID or other type of identifier to identify anasset. The identifying information can be resolved to return contentcreator information in a manner as disclosed in accordance with theexemplary embodiments disclosed herein.

One problem with resolving social networking information is thatinformation such as minutes of usage will not be part of a post or acomment because a user is describing a media asset instead of having ametric which directly measures a user's consumption of such a mediaasset. An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure can assign avalue, such as X minutes of consumption (X being an numeric value), foreach posting that a user makes about a user asset to a social medianetwork, where such a value can be aggregated with other measurablevalues concerning how long or how many times a media asset is consumes.For example, if a user watches a media asset for 30 minutes and poststwo messages about the media asset to a social media network, the usagedata for the media asset can be resolved to be a total of 40 minutes (30minutes for the viewing time and plus 10 minutes for the social mediapostings if each posting resolves to be 5 minutes of viewing time).Optionally, a lock out period can be instituted for postings to a socialnetwork where Y minutes (Y being a numeric value) must lapse between twopostings about the same media asset before both postings count as usagedata. If the amount of time between the two postings is less than Yminutes, then only one posting will be counted.

In the generation of reports from the various usage data listed above,FIGS. 9-12 show various exemplary embodiments on such reports that canbe generated. FIG. 9 discloses a report 900 that shows an activity orservice that a user will select after engaging in a first activity. Forexample, the report generated shows a percentage of users that select anover the top (OTT) service such as Amazon, Netflix, YouTube and thelike, after watching Live TV. Note, the report generated can be for aspecific time of day, interval of time, and the like. In the aspectsshown in FIG. 9, the report indicates that for people who watch Live TVfor more than an hour, how many people stay with Live TV compared to thenumber of people who switch to OTT services.

These principles can be expanded to any activity that can be monitoredsuch as viewing live television viewing, viewing PVR or DVR, playinginteractive video games, click through with advertisements, browsing theweb, purchasing content, using trick play functions, searching forcontent, switching between various media services or channels, socialnetwork activity, and the like. Likewise, the information for timeintervals can be done by time of day or specific time intervals wheresuch information can be broken out for a single user, group of users, ademographic of users, user location, user income, user name, and thelike.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary embodiment of a report 1000 that is related to“click through” or how successful is a purchase of content in responseto an initial activity. For example, if a user searches for specificcontent using a search query term during a specific time interval, thereport shows whether or not the users played back, did not playback, orpurchased the asset. FIG. 10 also shows the source in which a mediaasset was acquired from and whether or not the media asset was playedback. In the first case, the asset came from a Network Service Provider.In the second case, the asset came from an Over the Top serviceprovider. Other sources of where media assets (as well as commercialsand/or other types of advertisements) can be reported in accordance withthe principles of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary embodiment of a report 1100 concerning how auser engages trick play for a specific media asset. For example, whenwatching ESPN, the report shows during what time segment of a televisionshow that users engaged in a trick play function (such as fastforwarding). Although the report is for a specific television show thatis stored on a DVR, the following scenarios are possible for differenttelevision shows (although other media assets can be monitored in asimilar way) and networks and a user's use of trick play and/or howfrequently a user switches channels:

A report can be generated for a television show in real time, where auser's switching of channels during specific time segments can betracked.

A report can be generated for a television show that is stored on a PVRtracking trick play functions against time segments.

A report can be generated for a television show which is being deliveredin a streaming video or on-demand modality, where the report could trackof all of the trick play behavior.

A report can be generated for a television show that aggregates all userbehavior regardless of the source. In this example, the behavior to whena user switches channels for a program when it is being played live canbe aggregated with the time segments fast forwarded for the same showwhen it is delivered from a PVR, DVR, and/or VOD source. Suchinformation can then be overlaid over each other to generate acomparison how a user interacts with a media asset that is delivered ina live setting versus how a user interacts with the same media assetwhen time shifted.

A report can be generated for specific networks which show how a userinteracted with specific host of networks. For example, one can trackhow a user interacted with all of the live programming in a specificnetwork group such as ESPN compared to all of the live programming in adifferent group of channels such as HBO.

A report can be structured by using various usage data described hereinwith corresponding content creator information to group differentbroadcasters together. For example, the ESPN group comprises ofdifferent ESPN branded channels such as ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN College, ESPNNews, and the like. Likewise, the HBO comprises different HBO brandedchannels such as HBO1, HBO2, HBO3, HBOHD, and the like. This type ofreport can count for a time interval all of the HBO channels that werewatched by a user versus all of the ESPN channels.

An exemplary embodiment can be expanded to then include non-livetelevision assets that either ESPN or HBO makes available. For example,for ESPN, this can include going to an ESPN web site, accessing an ESPNstreaming or an over the top service, accessing archived ESPN sourcematerial on a PVR, DVR, and the like. Similar examples exist for HBO aswell. The report can then include all of the HBO assets versus all ofthe ESPN assets that were accessed for a specific time interval. Thisexample can be further expanded to NSP, OTT, and other network groups.For example, with the ESPN example, a content creator such as Disney,who provides sports and kids content, can be interested in all of thematerial accessed in their ecosphere whether or not it is from ESPN,ABC, ABC Family, Disney Channel networks, VOD servers, Disney Basedwebsites, Disney Based interactive games, and other possible sources.One can then monitor how a user responds to all of the media assetswithin a content creator's domain (e.g., all of the web, internet,stored content, live broadcast content supplied by a content creator).That is, when a user switches from one type of media asset to a secondtype of media asset (television show to web page, television show,interactive game, etc.) are they staying with content provided by aspecific content creator (such as DISNEY) or does the user change tocontent from a second content creator (e.g., FOX or VIVDENDI).

FIG. 12 is an exemplary embodiment of a report 1200 that breaks down ofall of the different applications that a user (or group of users) hasengaged in using a device such a tablet as a second screen or inputdevice while watching live television for a specific time interval. Suchactivities performed on the second screen device include looking mediadetails information, details of programming in an electronic programguide, using third party applications on the input device, accessingselections on a user library, looking at recommendations made by anapplication or other users, accessing a user's home page, and the like.The same type of report can be generated for a specific time range whenwatching a specific television show, network group, and the like.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary embodiment of method 1300 for determining whatcontent creator is associated with a particular media asset. In step1310, a computer or other type of processing device in accordance withthe exemplary embodiments described identifies a content creator of amedia asset of a first type where the identification can be madeexplicitly from a metadata field as CREATOR_ID. Step 1320 performs asimilar operation where a second media asset of a second type isidentified from a metadata field. It is anticipated that the mediaassets are of different types where, for example, the first media assetis a computer game while the second media asset is a video that isdelivered from a video on demand server. Other media asset types areaccounted for by presently described exemplary embodiments.

In step 1330, a first and/or second media asset has a content creatoridentified by using a lookup technique where the content creator is notdirectly identified in the metadata associated with a media asset. Suchtechniques are described in various exemplary embodiments includingdomain name lookups, title look up, keyword extraction, and the like. Instep 1340, the results of the preceding steps can be grouped together toindicate the usage of media assets by content creator regardless of thetype of media assets consumed by a user. These results can be providedin forms according to the described exemplary embodiments. In anoptional embodiment, the results are broken down into subheadingsaccording to broadcast networks. For example, for DISNEY as a contentcreator, media assets can be related to the affiliations of ESPN, ABC,and DISNEY by itself. Hence, a report for the content creator DISNEY,can have all of the assets consumed, regardless of type, pertaining toESPN be listed under one heading, all of the assets consumed for ABC beunder a second heading, and have all of the other assets consumed forDISNEY under a third heading. This approach can be applied to othercontent creators in accordance with the disclosed embodiments.

While the example set forth above has focused on a system, it should beunderstood that the present disclosure can also be embedded in acomputer program product, which comprises all the features enabling theimplementation of the methods described herein, and which, when loadedin a computer system, is able to carry out these methods. Computerprogram or application in the present context means any expression, inany language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended tocause a system having an information processing capability to perform aparticular function either directly or after either or both of thefollowing a) conversion to another language, code or notation; b)reproduction in a different material form.

Additionally, the description above is intended by way of example onlyand is not intended to limit the present disclosure in any way, exceptas set forth in the following claims.

1. A method for determining media asset usage comprising the steps of:identifying a content creator of a first media asset of a first typefrom usage data corresponding to the first media asset; identifying asecond content creator of a second media asset of a second type fromusage data corresponding to the second media asset, wherein said firstand second types of media assets are different; performing an lookupoperation to identify at least one of the first and second media assetswhen the usage data corresponding to the at least one of the first andsecond media asset fails to indicate a corresponding content creator;and providing results indicating usage of the first and second mediaassets by content creator.
 2. The method of claim 1, where the first andsecond content creators are the same entity.
 3. The method of claim 1,where the first and second content creators are different entities. 4.The method of claim 1, where the content creator is broken down into subaffiliations.
 5. The method of claim 1, where the look up operationdetermines a content creator from the domain name used to access the atleast one of the first and second media assets.
 6. The method of claim1, where the look up operation determines a content creator frompostings about the at least one of the first and second media assetsmade to a social networking system.
 7. The method of claim 6, where afirst posting and a second posting about a same media asset are countedonly if a period of time is exceeded between a time the first postingand a time the second posting is made.
 8. An apparatus for determiningmedia asset usage comprising: a means for identifying a content creatorof a first media asset of a first type from usage data corresponding tothe first media asset; a means for identifying a second content creatorof a second media asset of a second type from usage data correspondingto the second media asset, wherein said first and second types of mediaassets are different; a means for performing an lookup operation toidentify at least one of the first and second media assets when theusage data corresponding to the at least one of the first and secondmedia asset fails to indicate a corresponding content creator; and ameans for providing results indicating usage of the first and secondmedia assets by content creator.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, where thefirst and second content creators are the same entity.
 10. The apparatusof claim 8, where the first and second content creators are differententities.
 11. The apparatus of claim 8, where the content creator isbroken down into sub affiliations.
 12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherethe look up means determines a content creator from the domain name usedto access the at least one of the first and second media assets.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 8, where the look up means determines a contentcreator from postings about the at least one of the first and secondmedia assets made to a social networking system.
 14. The apparatus ofclaim 13, where a first posting and a second posting about a same mediaasset are counted only if a period of time is exceeded between a timethe first posting and a time the second posting is made.